o 


dERIES    II,    NO.    7  MARCH,    1913 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT 
m  THE  LITTLE 


MISS  ZONA  GALE 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

GENERAL  OFFICES 


Hmetttan  Ctbtt  Msiiotmtion 

DEPARTMENT  OF  CITY  MAKING 

SERIES    II,     NO.     7  MARCH,     X913 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT 

IN  THE  LITTLE 

TOWNS 


BY 

MISS  ZONA  GALE 

Member  Executive  Board,  American  Civic  Association 

Chairman,  Civics  Department,  General  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs 

Author,  "Friendship  Village,"  and  Other  Stories 


General  Offices 
Union  Trust  Building,  Washington,  D.  C. 


American  Civic  Association 


President 
J.  HORACE   McFARLAND,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

First   Vice-President 
JOHN   NOLEN,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Treasurer 
WILLIAM   B.  ROWLAND,  New   York. 

Secretary 
RICHARD   B.  WATROUS,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Vice-Presidents 
CLINTON   ROGERS   WOODRUFF,  Philadelphia. 
GEORGE   B.  DEALEY,  Dallas,  Texas. 
MRS.  EDWARD  W.  BIDDLE,  Carlisle,  Pa. 
GEORGE   W.  MARSTON,  San   Diego,   Cal. 
J.  LOCKIE   WILSON,  Toronto,  Canada. 
CHARLES   H.  WACKER.  Chicago.  lU. 

Executive  Board 

WiLLiAii   P.   BANCRorT,   Wilmington,  Miss  Zona  Gai.e,  Portage,  Wis. 

Del.  Edward  Hatch,  Jr.,  New  York. 

Henry  A.  Barker,  Providence,  R.  I.  Harold  J.  Howland,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

Miss  Mabel  T.  Boardman,  Washing-  Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson,  New  York. 

ton,  D.  C.  j^^g    ^    g    McCrea,  Chicago,  III. 

^""^  Minn.    ^°''°='''=^'    Minneapolis.  ^^^^  louise  Klein   Miller,   Cleve- 


Frank  Chapin  Bray,  New  York. 


land,  Ohio. 

^,       „    ,  J.  C.  Nichols,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Arnold  W.  Brunner,  New  York.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  Brookline. 
H.  K.  Bush-Brown,  Washington,  D.  C.  Mass. 

Mrs.     Caroline    Bartlett    Crane,  John  H.  Patterson,  Dayton,  Ohio. 

Kalamazoo,  Mich.  ^^y     a.    H.    Scott,    Perth,    Ontario, 
Charles  M.  Dow,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.  Canada. 

Mrs.  James  S.  Frick,  Baltimore,  Md.  George  Stephens.  Charlotte,  N,  C 


Address  all  g&neral  communications 

to  the  Main  Offices  of  the  Association 

UNION    TRUST  BUILDING 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  IN  THE 
LITTLE   TOWNS 

HOW,  in  these  first  days,  shall  the  new  spirit  be 
caught  and  expressed  in  the  little  towns  and  in  the 
villages? 

These  first  days  are  the  days  when  a  vague  and 
disjointed  and  commercialized  social  life  is  being  shaped  to 
serve  hiunan  needs  and  human  growth  before  property 
rights. 

The  new  spirit  is  the  spirit  of  community  realization,  and 
the  resulting  impulse  to  give  this  some  expression  is  definite 
municipal  housekeeping. 

Little  towns  and  villages  are  social  units,  just  as  precious 
in  quality  as  the  great  cities,  but  without  the  cities'  resources 
for  community  self-expression. 

In  the  total  population  of  the  United  States,  there  are 
more  people  living  in  towns  under  25,000  than  in  towns 
whose  population  is  greater. 

Therefore,  one  of  the  tasks  of  the  times  is  to  develop  the 
native  ability  of  towns  of  a  few  thousands  and  of  a  few  hun- 
dreds, so  that  they  may  do  their  best  for  their  present  and 
their  future;  so  that  they  may  find  themselves,  each  as  a 
definite  social  unit  in  charge  of  a  few  square  miles  of  planet, 
and  of  an  endless  procession  of  folk. 

This  is  not  "town  improvement"  in  the  old  sense;  the 
sense  in  which  a  few  got  together  to  do  good  to  the  town,  to 
give  it  things,  to  induce  the  most  prominent  citizen  to  con- 
tribute a  fountain.  They  did  that  way  when  only  a  few  in 
the  town  had  an  inkling  of  what  the  town  might  be.  Now 
the  need  is  to  develop  the  whole  town  to  have,  not  merely  an 
inkling,  but  a  face-to-face  look  at  what  the  town  not  only  can 
be,  but  must  be  if  it  keeps  up  with  what  the  world  is  learning 
about  living.  The  new  spirit  of  community  realization  is  to 
the  old  idea  of  "improving"  what  the  new  principle  of  con- 
structive philanthropy  is  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Lord 
and  Lady  Boimtiful  of  mere  charity.  The  new  way  of  civic 
work  is  the  way,  not  of  paternalism,  but  of  hmnanhood. 

(3) 


4  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

A  THREEFOLD  PROBLEM 

The  Civic  problem  of  the  small  town  is  threefold: 

I.  To  get  into  the  current  of  the  new  understanding  that 
the  conservation  of  physical  and  moral  life  is  largely  economic, 
and  that  its  enemy  is  not  so  much  individual  human 
weakness  as  bad  economic  and  social  and  other  physical 
conditions. 

II.  To  find  practical  ways  of  applying  this  understand- 
ing to  the  present  and  future  of  the  town,  and  so  of  the 
democracy. 

III.  To  do  both  with  exceedingly  little  money. 

The  first  need  is  not  to  change  town  conditions.  The 
first  need  is  to  create  the  desire  to  change  town  conditions. 
That  is,  the  first  step  is,  as  usual,  educational.  People  must 
begin  to  think  about  civic  work  before  they  will  begin  to 
do  civic  work. 

Therefore,  town  organizations  that  will  take  up  civic 
problems  and  discuss  them  in  open  meetings  make  among  the 
best  possible  initial  tools. 

In  some  small  towns  there  is  an  organization  of  men 
which  meets  monthly  or  quarterly  for  suppers,  with  a  speaker 
from  within  or  without  the  town.  In  many  small  towns 
there  is  a  lecture-course.  In  most  small  towns  there  are 
women's  clubs.  But  in  all  small  towns  there  may  be  devel- 
oped one  center  which  shall  include  not  merely  one  group  or 
one  club,  but  the  community  itself.  This  is  the  social  center, 
that  rooting  of  the  idea  of  community  self-consciousness 
which  will  grow  into  a  thing  of  inniunerable  branches  vari- 
ously expressing  the  graying  community  interests.  Such  a 
center,  of  which  more  will  be  said  later,  must,  however,  be 
recognized  by  a  community  as  a  need,  and  not  imposed  upon 
it  as  a  programme.  Social  centers  must  be  developed,  not 
established;  and  sometimes,  before  the  knowledge  of  this 
need  arises,  the  small  organizations  may  unconsciously  work 
toward  it  by  a  wise  use  of  their  power  as  distributive  agencies 
for  the  civic  discussion  that  must  precede  intelligent  activity. 

Thus,  for  example,  the  various  Supper  Clubs,  Twilight 
Clubs,  Sundown  Clubs,  may  have  a  speaker  from  the  nearest 
city  to  discuss  some  matter  of  live  local  importance,  such  as: 

Sewerage:  Its  possibility  in  small  towns.  Its  need.  Its 
cost.  The  small  towns  in  the  state  that  have  sewerage; 
especially  those  that  have  put  in  the  system  after  an  epi- 
demic of  typhoid. 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  5 

Garbage  collection  and  disposal,  as  carried  on  in  small 
towns,  with  accounts  of  how  small  towns  secure  it. 

Pure  food,  discussed  by  the  state  inspector  or  some  other 
expert,  and  including  something  of  the  state  laws  regarding 
exposure  of  food  in  stores  and  on  sidewalks,  conditions  of 
slaughter-houses,  etc. 

If  it  occurs  to  anybody  that  the  first  two  topics  are  hardly 
after-dinner  topics,  one  answer  is  that  one  of  the  most 
efficient  clubs  in  Los  Angeles,  California, — the  City  Club — 
followed  one  of  its  luncheons  by  a  lecture  on  garbage-reduc- 
tion plants,  the  lecturer  exhibiting  glass  tubes  of  the  fertilizer 
extracted,  and  the  members  listening  about  the  table  after 
the  cloth  had  been  drawn;  and  the  time  had  a  dignity  that 
nobody  questioned;  for,  when  this  can  happen,  live  interests 
in  live  issues  are  stirring  toward  results. 

For  such  discussions,  local  officials  will  contribute.  The 
town  engineer  and  surveyor  to  point  out  local  conditions 
and  difficulties  suggested  in  possible  sewerage;  the  health 
officer  to  tell  of  local  need  for  garbage-disposal  and  of  methods 
in  operation  in  the  town — burying,  dimaping  in  hollows 
and  streams,  exposing  in  alleys;  and  also  to  discuss  exposed 
food  and  house-ffies. 

Matters  of  parks,  drives,  waterways,  good  roads — what- 
ever point  of  contact  may  be  most  easily  established  between 
things  as  they  are  and  things  as  they  might  be — should  be 
selected  for  these  meetings. 

Lecture-courses  may  have  several  lecture  munbers  selected 
with  reference  to  stimulating  civic  interest.  In  New  York 
there  is  one  bureau  most  of  whose  speakers  give  addresses 
on  civic  and  social  subjects.  A  lecture  on  "The  Redemption 
of  a  Typical  American  City,"  or  "The  City,  the  Hope  of 
Democracy,"  or  "Parks  and  Playgrounds  of  the  Twentieth 
Century"  will,  though  these  lectures  apply  to  cities,  bear 
almost  certain  fruit  in  the  small  town.  For  the  motif  of  all 
strong  civic  lectures  is  to  quicken  humanity  to  "live  its 
splendid  best"  in  surroundings  coordinate  to  that  best;  and 
this  can  be  done  as  well  in  the  little  town  as  in  the  city. 

WOMEN'S  CLUBS— THEIR  SERVICE 

At  this  moment,  however,  one  of  the  surest  means  at 
hand  for  rousing  civic  consciousness  is  the  women's  clubs. 
It  chances  that  this  phase  of  the  new  desire  of  women  for 
expression  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  develop  from  the  previous 


6  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

training  of  women.  Women's  business  has  been  the  conserv- 
ing of  life,  always.  Now  she  sees  her  business  transcending 
her  four  walls  and  waiting  for  her  everywhere.  From  house- 
keeping to  mimicipal  housekeeping  is  but  a  step.  From  the 
conserving  of  a  few  lives  to  joining  hands  with  others  for 
the  conserving  of  all  lives  is  sequential.  One  of  the  natural 
sources  of  civic  life  is  a  group  of  women  who  have  tradition- 
ally and  individually  always  been  applying  its  inmost  prin- 
ciple to  the  narrower  area  of  the  home.  Civic  work  is  any 
citizen's  work  to  develop  the  world  of  the  home  into  the  home 
of  the  world. 

HOW  TO   BEGIN   TO  ORGANIZE 

Because  a  thing  done,  however  slight  the  thing  or  slightly 
expressed,  has  a  value  distinct  from  even  the  most  perfect 
theory,  it  may  be  well  to  tell  how  first  the  women,  and  then 
the  men  and  women  of  one  town,  inaugurated  civic  work. 
For  the  difficult  part  seems  to  be  the  beginning.  Without 
question,  the  spirit  is  alive  in  every  town,  somewhere.  The 
need  is  for  some  point  of  contact  to  be  estabUshed  between 
that  town  and  that  spirit.  Thereafter  you  have  a  living 
thing,  and  it  grows,  like  any  living  thing. 

This  town  is  one  of  six  thousand  inhabitants,  and  the 
initial  step  was  taken  by  a  woman's  club,  which  gave  over 
studying  foreign  countries  and  decided  to  study  America. 

"Are  you  going  to  study  America  next  year,  instead  of  a 
coimtry?"  an  inquirer  put  it. 

At  first,  one  hour  of  each  weekly  meeting  was  given  to  a 
paper,  and  readings,  by  a  club  member,  on  some  phase  of 
present-day  America;  and  twenty  minutes  to  a  discussion 
of  the  present  working  out  of  some  civic  or  social  problem 
looking  to  the  future  of  America.  The  latter  included  news 
about  Conservation  and  Reclamation,  the  National  Fight  for 
Health,  Pure  Food,  Play,  Peace,  Eugenics,  Equal  Suffrage, 
Workmen's  Compensation  Laws,  Children's  Gardens,  Tuber- 
culosis Prevention,  Modem  Prison  Methods,  a  Study  of 
Public  Fountains, — the  program  committee  simply  reached 
out  blindly  into  the  field  and  took  what  first  presented  it- 
self. Perhaps  this,  approximating  as  it  did  to  a  rough  sur- 
vey of  the  field  from  very  far  off,  was  as  good  a  way  as 
any  way.  At  all  events,  the  result  was  that  the  next  year 
the  Club's  whole  time  was  given  to  a  study  of  civic  and 
social  topics,  presented  by  the  members. 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  7 

Then  something  became  evident,  which  was  a  kind  of 
revelation  about  civilization.  It  was  found  that,  as  these 
matters  of  national  importance  came  up  for  consideration, 
most  of  them  had  a  distinctly  local  application. 

"The  Playground  as  a  Part  of  the  Graded  School  Course 
of  Instruction"  called  for  a  discussion  of  the  need  and  expense 
of  a  local  playground.  "Conservation  and  Reclamation'* 
brought  on  questions  about  curb  tree-planting  and  parking 
and  the  local  ordinances  about  cutting  down  and  replacing. 
"Jails  and  Lock-ups"  resulted  in  an  investigation  of  the 
local  jail  and  calaboose  bedding,  and  the  local  mode  of 
procedure  when  boy  offenders  are  brought  before  a  justice. 
"The  Drama:  Modem  Dramatic  Aims  and  Methods"  was 
made  to  include  "The  Winter's  Offerings  in  Small  Towns 
and  How  to  Get  Better  Plays,"  and  "Local  Nickel  Theaters." 
To  "Women  in  Industry"  was  added  "Women  in  Local 
Industry:  Hours,  Rules,  Wages."  "Parks"  suggested  the 
possible  development  of  two  local  vacant  triangles,  and  their 
appropriation  to  the  common  use. 

Thus  two  facts  became  evident: 

I.  Most  of  the  matters  of  the  general  national  welfare 
were  applicable  to  matters  of  the  general  local  welfare. 

II.  These  matters  of  the  general  local  welfare  were  being 
investigated  by  a  club  whose  membership  was  Hmited  to 
eighteen  members. 

THE  CALL  FOR  TEAM-WORK 

It  was  the  incongruity  of  a  small  club,  with  a  limited 
membership,  considering  alone  problems  which  directly 
interested  six  thousand  folk,  which  led  to  the  next  step. 

The  club  called  a  general  meeting  of  all  the  women  inter- 
ested in  town  development.  Every  woman's  club  was 
invited,  and  a  general  invitation  was  extended  through  the 
papers.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  impulse  to  go 
about  this  work  came  spontaneously  from  within  the  town, 
which  knew  so  little  about  the  great  outside  wave  of  civic 
enthusiasm  that  it  had  never  before  heard  of  the  American 
Civic  Association,  and  learned  of  its  existence  only  just  in 
time  to  telegraph  to  it  for  help  and  material  before  that  first 
general  meeting. 

The  meeting  was  held  at  the  City  Hall,  and  these  were 
asked  to  be  present  and  to  speak  as  follows: 

The  city  health  officer,  to  explain  the  vital  need  of  sewerage 


8  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

and  the  desirabiKty  of  a  garbage-disposal  system,  and  what 
practical  means  could  be  used  to  get  both. 

The  school  superintendent,  to  tell  of  the  advantages  of 
manual  training  and  domestic  science  in  the  local  schools. 

The  art  teacher  in  the  schools,  to  tell  how  the  local  school 
grounds  could  be  inexpensively  improved  and  made  beautiful. 

A  woman  who  loves  gardens,  to  tell  of  the  joy  in  gardens 
and  in  planted  spaces. 

A  club  member,  to  tell  of  the  work  of  the  American  Civic 
Association  and  of  the  work  of  children's  gardens  and  the 
penny  seed  packages. 

A  woman  interested  in  pure  milk,  to  tell  of  the  dangers  of 
tuberculosis  existing  in  iminspected  herds,  and  how  a  town 
can  go  about  securing  the  tuberculin  test  of  its  cows,  in  order 
to  know  of  the  purity  of  its  milk  supply. 

Eighty  women  were  present  at  this  meeting,  and  the  fol- 
lowing week  a  meeting  was  held  to  effect  a  permanent  organi- 
zation. The  constitution  of  the  Wichita  (Kansas)  Improve- 
ment Association  was  adopted,  with  modifications  suiting  it 
to  the  smaller  society,  and  the  work  was  mapped  out  for  five 
standing  committees,  whose  chairmen,  with  the  officers  and 
five  appointive  members,  made  up  the  executive  board.  The 
committees  were:  Sanitary,  Educational,  Art,  Children's 
Auxiliary,  Streets  and  Alleys. 

A  Membership  Committee  was  also  appointed  to  solicit 
new  members,  the  society's  revenue  consisting  only  of  the 
annual  dues  of  50  cts. 

The  committees  were  instructed  as  follows: 

The  Sanitary  Committee,  (i)  to  secure  a  tuberculin  test, 
and,  if  possible,  an  ordinance  requiring  the  testing  of  all  local 
herds;  (2)  to  investigate  systems  of  garbage  disposal  in  the 
small  towns  of  the  state,  and  to  devise  some  means  of  collec- 
tion in  the  town. 

The  Educational  Committee,  to  circulate  a  petition  to  be 
presented  to  the  school  board,  asking  it  to  adopt  and  in- 
troduce manual  training  and  domestic  science  courses  in  the 
local  high  school. 

The  Art  Conmiittee,  to  arrange  for  special  rates  on  quan- 
tities of  shrubs,  roses,  etc.,  and  to  offer  to  order  for  anyone 
who  wished  to  order. 

The  Children's  Auxiliary,  to  see  how  many  children  wished 
the  penny  packages  of  seeds  for  home-gardens. 

The  Streets  and  Alleys  Committee,  to  ask  the  mayor  to 
appoint  a  clean-up  day;  and  to  report  unsavory  alleys. 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  9 

Organization  was  effected  in  March,  and  in  three  months 
the  following  had  been  accomplished: 

The  Sanitary  Conmiittee  had  interviewed  the  milkmen  at 
a  meeting  called  by  the  committee,  and  had  ascertained  how 
to  secure  the  tuberculin  test.  The  milkmen  were  willing  to 
have  the  test  made  and  to  pay  for  it  themselves,  and  the 
matter  was  precipitated  by  the  owner  of  a  large  herd  engag- 
ing a  veterinarian  to  come  to  make  the  test,  and  found  in 
the  herd  three  badly  infected  cows.  All  the  large  local  herds 
were  inspected;  but  the  effort  to  secure  an  ordinance  requir- 
ing the  test  semi-annually,  as  it  should  be  administered,  was 
postponed  in  the  hope  that  this  will  soon  be  required  by 
statute. 

Also,  the  chairman  of  the  Sanitary  Committee,  having 
previously  presented  to  the  club  initiating  the  movement 
a  paper  on  Garbage  Disposal,  and  having  at  that  time  written 
to  twenty  towns  in  the  state,  asking  for  their  methods,  had 
inaugurated  a  trial  system  of  garbage  collection,  whose 
development  makes  a  story  by  itself,  and  will  be  treated 
later  in  the  present  paper. 

The  Education  Conmiittee  had  circulated  its  petition, 
and  secured  three  hundred  signers;  but  before  the  petition 
was  presented  the  school  board  passed  the  resolution  to 
introduce  manual  training  and  domestic  science  into  the 
school.  The  Association  then  voted  to  equip  the  school 
dining-room  with  tables,  chairs  and  linen. 

The  Art  Committee  had  taken  orders  for  more  than 
sixty  dollars  worth  of  shrubs,  vines  and  roses  for  private 
grounds.  At  the  invitation  of  the  committee,  Mrs.  McCrea, 
a  member  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  American  Civic 
Association,  visited  the  town;  and  later  Mr.  John  Nolen, 
the  first  vice-president  of  the  Association,  did  the  same. 

The  Streets  and  Alleys  Conmiittee  had  secured  a  clean-up 
day,  named  by  the  mayor,  previous  to  which  a  sub-committee 
was  named  to  report  the  sidewalks  not  cleaned  of  snow. 

The  Children's  Auxiliary  Committee  had  distributed 
one  thousand  and  three  hundred  penny  packages  of  flower 
and  vegetable  seeds,  and  had  offered  twenty-five  dollars* 
worth  of  prizes  to  the  children  for  flowers  entered  in  a  flower 
and  vegetable  show  announced  for  September. 

These  were  mere  beginnings,  but  in  them  the  work  was 
launched  and  given  an  impetus  that  made  permanence  a 
certainty. 


lo  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

MISTAKES   AND  HOW  CORRECTED 

In  the  judgment  of  the  organization  itself,  and  measured 
by  the  wider  experience  of  others,  two  mistakes  had  thus 
far  been  made,  which  may  as  well  be  noted  here: 

The  first  was  in  limiting  the  membership  to  women. 
Obviously,  the  concerns  of  any  town-development  organi- 
zation are  the  concerns  of  everybody  in  that  town,  and  the 
membership  should  consist  of  the  members  of  that  com- 
munity. 

The  second  mistake  was  in  having  no  fixed  habitation  for 
the  organization.  Quarterly  meetings  were  held  in  the  after- 
noon, in  the  City  Hall.  The  meetings  should  be  more  fre- 
quent, and  they  should  have  a  place  to  come  together  in 
regular  and  special  sessions.  These  should  be  visited  by  as 
many  outside  speakers  as  the  society  can  afford;  these  speak- 
ers, in  these  days  of  university  extension,  being  ready  to 
come  whenever  the  interest  is  manifest  which  it  is  their 
vocation  to  stimulate. 

Both  these  reasons  suggest  again  the  Social  Center  as  the 
logical  basis  for  conmiunity  study  and  civic  activity,  because 
a  social  center's  membership  consists  of  the  members  of 
its  community. 

It  was  two  years  after  the  original  organization  had  been 
formed  that  the  first  of  these  mistakes  was  repaired.  A 
re-organization  was  effected  on  a  basis  of  membership  of 
both  men  and  women,  and  a  new  constitution  was  adopted, 
which  is  here  given  in  full: 

A  MODEL  CONSTITUTION 

Article  I.  Name. 

Article  II.  Object. — The   object   of   this   Society  shall   be   the 

improvement  of in  sanitation,  education-,  beauty,  and  other 

conditions  which  shall  conduce  to  the  health,  morality,  happiness, 
and  general  good  citizenship  of  its  people. 

Article  III.  Members. — Any  person  may  become  a  member  of 
this  Society  by  signing  the  Constitution  and  paying  fifty  cents 
[suggested]  annually  to  the  Treasurer. 

Article  IV.  Section  i.  The  officers  of  this  Society  shall  be  Presi- 
dent, Vice-President,  Secretary,  Treasurer,  and  an  Executive  Com- 
mittee. Section  2.  The  officers  may  be  named  by  a  nominating 
committee,  and  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  at  the  annual  meeting. 
Section  3.  The  Executive  Board  shall  consist  of  the  officers,  seven 
members  of  the  Society  elected  by  ballot,  and  the  Chairmen  of  the 
Standing  Committees. 

Article  V.  Section  i.  The  Society  shall  meet  annually  on  the  first 
Saturday  in  March,  at ,  and  at  such  other  times  as  may 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  ii 

be  ordered  by  the  Society,  or  called  by  the  Executive  Board. 
Section  2.  One-fourth  of  the  enrollment  shall  constitute  a  quorum, 
provided  that  at  any  time  fifteen  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

Article  VI.  The  Standing  Committees  of  the  Society  shall  be 
as  follows:  Sanitation,  Education,  Outdoor  Art,  Children's  Auxili- 
ary, Streets  and  Alleys,  Public  Buildings  and  Recreation,  Rest- 
Room,  Tree  Culture,  Charity  Coordination,  Membership,  and 
Press. 

Article  VII.  Amendments. 

Article  VII  was  later  used  to  amend  Article  V,  so  that  it 
should  provide  for  three  quarterly  meetings  in  addition  to 
the  March  annual  meeting  of  the  Society,  these  to  take  place 
in  January,  June  and  September. 

Meetings  of  the  Executive  Board  were  to  be  held  on  the 
second  Tuesday  in  every  month. 

The  keynote  of  the  new  society  thus  became  the  key- 
note of  all  society:  "The  responsibility  of  adults  for  condi- 
tions which  shall  conduce  to  the  health,  morality,  happiness 
and  general  good  citizenship  of  the  young  people."  For,  if 
the  adult  society  is  working  for  this,  then  its  own  health, 
morality  and  happiness  are  finding  promotion. 

COMMITTEE  WORK  DEFINED 

The  work  of  the  eleven  standing  committees  of  the  organi- 
zation involves  all  the  problems  with  which  it  has  been  con- 
fronted; and  some  consideration  of  what  has  been  attempted 
or  accompUshed  by  these  committees  may  be  of  practical  use, 
either  as  direction  or  warning. 

EDUCATION  COMMITTEE 

Following  out  the  work  done  toward  manual  training 
and  domestic  science  in  the  public  schools,  and  the  equip- 
ment of  the  school  dining-room  with  linen,  tables  and  chairs, 
the  committee  offered  prizes  to  the  domestic  science  classes 
in  various  departments  of  their  work.  The  committee  asked 
the  public  to  report  to  it  any  children  of  school  age  found  at 
work,  or  any  cases  of  truancy.  A  campaign  against  the 
house-fly  was  conducted,  material  about  the  fly  being  printed 
in  the  daily  papers  and  posted  on  the  bulletin  board  in  the 
library,  and  prizes  for  essays  on  the  subject  were  offered  to 
school-children.  It  was  also  a  part  of  the  committee's  work 
to  keep  informed  regarding  the  moving  pictures  presented 
at  the  local  nickel  theaters,  and  to  ascertain  and  report 
whether  censored  films  were  in  use. 


12  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

It  was  also  the  duty  of  the  Education  Committee  to 
bring  to  the  town  whatever  lecturers  could  be  secured  to 
speak  on  subjects  along  general  civic  educational  lines.  This 
was  also  within  the  province  of  the  other  committees,  and 
among  the  lectures  secured  by  the  Educational  Committee 
and  others  were  the  following: 

The  secretary  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  the 
nearest  city  on:   "What  Shall  We  Do  for  Our  Children?" 

An  editor  from  the  same  town  to  discuss  "Commission 
Form  of  Government  for  Cities,"  his  lecture  following  a 
a  dinner  by  a  men's  organization,  at  which  one  himdred  were 
present,  the  dinner  being  served  by  a  church  society. 

A  member  of  the  extension  department  of  the  state 
imiversity  to  speak  on  "The  Public  School  as  an  Art  Center;" 
and  at  another  time  to  meet  the  Executive  Board  and  talk 
on  "The  School  House  as  a  Social  Center." 

A  professor  from  the  state  university  to  talk  on  "The 
Moral  Instruction  in  the  High  Schools,"  an  informal  recep- 
tion for  everyone  following  the  address. 

Another  extension  lecturer,  with  an  open-air  motion- 
picture  health  exhibit,  who  appeared  on  the  Market  Square 
of  the  town,  following  an  outdoor  band  concert  there. 

A  distinguished  sociologist,  who  spoke  at  a  dinner  given 
by  the  whole  Association,  and  prepared  and  served  by  its 
members. 

These  lectures  were  aside  from  the  regular  lecture-course, 
which  was  in  the  hands  of  another  committee. 


OUTDOOR  ART  COMMITTEE 

One  of  the  most  attractive  bits  of  ground  in  the  town 
was  a  little  tract,  300  x  100  feet,  lying  at  the  end  of  a  bridge 
at  the  turn  of  the  river,  and  looking  southwest  to  water  and 
hills.  The  place  was  a  sand-bank,  however,  and  had  nothing 
of  its  own  save  a  huge  boulder,  and  a  wooden  seat  placed 
there  by  the  one  man  in  the  town  who,  it  developed,  had  for 
years  held  an  individual  membership  in  the  American  Civic 
Association  and,  an  exile  in  the  West  for  health,  used  to  dream 
what  might  be  done  in  the  little  town. 

At  the  request  of  the  committee,  Mr.  John  Nolen,  a 
landscape  architect,  came  to  see  the  little  triangle,  and  he 
made  a  plan  for  it,  with  a  stretch  of  grass,  an  irregular, 
planting  of  native  and  other  hardy  shrubs,  and  two  flights 
of  rough  steps  leading  down  to  the  water.   The  committee 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  13 

kept  the  plan  for  a  year  and  more,  without  the  means  to 
develop  it.  Then,  through  the  generosity  of  the  author  of  a 
successfxil  play  then  running  in  New  York,  and  of  its  mana- 
gers, Messrs.  Liebler,  this  play  was  given  one  production  in 
the  town,  by  a  local  caste  of  amateurs,  without  royalty.  The 
effect  of  this  gift  was  immediate.  Not  only  did  the  actors 
give  their  services,  but  the  manager  of  the  theater  gave  its 
rental,  the  coal  dealers  gave  the  heating,  the  electric  light 
company  the  lighting,  the  printers  gave  the  tickets,  the  news- 
papers the  advertising  and  programs,  and  the  local  shops 
the  properties.  The  play  was  given  absolutely  without 
expense,  and  netted  enough  to  pay  for  the  park's  plant- 
ing, the  town  agreeing  to  do  the  grading  and  put  on  the 
top-soil. 

After  the  first  year,  the  ordering  of  flowers  and  shrubs 
for  private  gardens  was  found  too  burdensome  for  the  local 
florists  and  for  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  and  this  was 
discontinued.  An  attempt  to  give  prizes  for  improvements 
in  door-yards  was  also  abandoned,  thoxigh  this  work  was 
always  encouraged, 

THE  CHILDREN'S  AUXILIARY  COMMITTEE 

This  committee  was  not  an  attempt  to  organize  the 
children  on  the  plan  of  junior  civic  leagues,  but  rather  to 
invite  them  to  the  keeping  of  home-gardens. 

When  the  work  was  first  started,  the  chairman  visited 
the  schools  each  spring  and  explained  the  plan  to  the  chil- 
dren. Now  that  it  is  more  perfectly  systematized,  the  work  is 
carried  on  through  the  teachers.  The  large  envelopes,  fur- 
nished free  by  the  Home  Gardening  Association  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  are  sent  in  bimdles  to  each  room,  with  a  copy  of  the 
rules  and  a  list  of  prizes.  Each  child  makes  out  his  order  for 
seeds  on  his  envelope,  and  the  teacher  returns  these^with 
the  money,  at  the  rate  of  one  cent  per  packet,  to  the  com- 
mittee, which  then  sends  the  entire  order  to  Cleveland,  pur- 
chasing the  seeds  at  nine  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents  per 
thousand  packets,  express  free.  These  packets,  when  received, 
are  placed  by  the  conmiittee  in  the  large  envelope  and 
returned  to  the  schools,  where  the  teachers  give  them  out  to 
the  children. 

It  has  been  found  much  better,  and  a  little  cheaper,  how- 
ever, for  the  committee  to  secure  the  seed  of  some  varieties, 
particularly  asters,  from  reliable  seedsmen,  in  bulk  at  pound 


14  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

rates;  a  half-pound  of  aster  seed,  for  example,  filling  about 
five  hundred  packets  and  costing  three  or  four  dollars.  The 
committee  then  places  this  in  small  envelopes,  about  one 
hundred  seeds  to  an  envelope,  first  writing  the  variety  of  seed 
on  each  envelope.  This  enables  the  committee  to  furnish 
for  one  cent  packets  of  seed  such  as  are  retailed  by  the  best 
seedsman  at  ten  cents,  and  of  the  very  best  quality  on  the 
market;  and  the  added  satisfaction  of  the  children,  the  added 
beauty  of  the  Flower  Show  and  the  saving  in  money,  well 
repay  the  extra  work  involved. 

The  number  of  packets  distributed  among  the  school 
children  is  now  nearly  five  thousand,  with  about  one  hundred 
and  ninety  entries  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  children  at 
the  Flower  and  Vegetable  Show,  which  is  held  in  September. 
About  thirty  dollars'  worth  of  prizes  are  offered,  these  con- 
sisting— not  of  money,  save  for  two  or  three  silver  dollars 
and  fifty-cent  pieces — ^but  of  pictures,  bird-books,  gardeners' 
tools,  baseballs,  gloves  and  bats  and  masks,  silver  spoons; 
and  every  child  who  makes  an  entry  and  does  not  receive 
a  prize  is  given — not  a  card  or  a  button — ^but  a  bulb.  The 
prizes  are  offered  to  grades  instead  of  to  schools,  so  that 
children  of  the  same  age  shall  be  competing,  and  a  prize  of 
a  large,  framed  picture  is  given  to  the  room  making  the  most 
entries  in  proportion  to  its  enrollment,  children  of  parochial 
schools  being  included.  The  flowers  foimd  to  be  most  satis- 
factory are  phlox,  nasturtiums  and  asters,  and  prizes  are 
offered  for  the  best  displays,  on  a  basis  of  both  the  flowers 
and  their  arrangement.  There  is  always  a  large  vegetable 
table,  and  prizes  are  also  given  for  vegetables.  The  show  is 
held  in  the  City  Hall,  and  there  the  children  come  in  the 
afternoon  to  receive  their  prizes  and  to  see  them  given.  In 
the  evening  the  Flower  Show  is  open  to  the  pubHc,  and  ice- 
cream and  cake  and  home-made  candy  are  on  sale.  With  the 
proceeds  of  this,  and  of  a  coffee  or  musical,  the  committee 
pays  its  own  expenses. 

Every  Friday  night,  throughout  the  siunmer,  after  the 
flowers  begin  to  bloom,  members  of  the  committee  are  at 
the  City  Hall  to  receive  flowers  which  the  children  bring 
there  from  their  own  and  others'  gardens,  and  these  are 
shipped  free  by  the  express  company — through  an  arrange- 
ment with  the  National  Plant,  Fruit  and  Flower  Guild  of 
New  York  City — to  a  social  settlement  in  the  nearest  city, 
there  to  be  distributed  to  the  sick,  and  others  who  have  no 
flowers.   Following  the  Flower  Show,  all  the  flowers  are  so 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  15 

shipped;  and  also  the  week  of  the  County  Fair  the  committee 
takes  charge  of  and  ships  all  the  fair  flower  entries. 

Another  activity  of  the  committee  was  the  planting  of  one 
of  the  ward-school  grounds  with  shrubs  and  vines.  A  strip 
of  grass  running  across  the  front  of  the  high  lot  was  given 
a  border  at  the  back,  a  border  of  irregularly  planted  shrub- 
bery lined  the  side  and  back  fences,  A  very  satisfying 
result  of  this  was  the  action  of  the  School  Board  the  follow- 
ing year  in  similarly  planting  all  the  school  groxmds  through- 
out the  city. 

STREETS  AND  ALLEYS  COMMITTEE 

The  general  clean-up  day  ordered  by  the  Mayor,  at  the 
request  of  this  committee,  was  effective;  but  not  so  much  so 
as  steady  effort  to  improve  the  conditions  of  alleys. 

Alleys,  in  any  town,  it  is  clear  to  the  committee,  are 
superfluous,  and  mere  collectors  of  imsightly  debris.  Its 
look  forward  visions  the  time  when  all  alleys  in  small  towns 
shall  be  declared  the  property  of  the  owners  of  abutting 
property,  on  condition  of  the  removal  of  broken-down  fences, 
ash-barrels  and  refuse,  and  the  planting  of  grass  seed.  There 
is  no  reason,  in  a  small  town,  why,  even  if  the  property 
owners'  gardens  demand  back  fences,  the  alleys  may  not  be 
made  the  smiUng  avenues  that  the  name  originally  connoted, 
instead  of  places  synonymous  with  filth.  Cleanliness,  grass 
seed  and  hardy  borders  would  make  them  beautiful  walks, 
if  they  were  not  thrown  into  the  lots  adjoining. 

The  chief  work  of  the  committee,  the  inauguration  of  a 
system  of  garbage  collection,  wiU  be  considered  separately. 

REST-ROOM  COMMITTEE 

The  need  for  a  rest-room  in  a  small  town  is  always  evi- 
dent. Farmers'  wives  in  town  find  themselves  with  no  place 
save  the  back  of  a  store  in  which  to  eat  their  lunches  and 
care  for  their  children,  and  there  are  often  dreary  hours  of 
waiting  which,  in  addition  to  being  dreary,  are  wasteful, 
when  a  means  of  rest  and  comfort  and  education  can  be  sup- 
plied by  the  town  to  these  patrons  of  its  shops. 

A  small  committee-room  in  the  City  Hall  was  voted  by 
the  Council  for  the  use  of  the  Association,  and  the  foUowing 
is  taken  from  the  printed  account  of  the  purposes  of  the 
room: 


i6  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

"The  room  will  be  fitted  up  with  simple  furniture,  curtains, 
plants,  pictures  and  rugs,  and  small  lunch-tables.  Here 
sandwiches  will  be  served,  and  tea  and  coffee,  at  five  cents. 
Those  wishing  to  bring  their  own  lunches  to  the  room  at 
any  time  may  do  so,  and  may  have  the  use  of  the  tables  and 
the  dishes.  In  the  little  adjoining  room  there  will  be  a  refriger- 
ator and  a  gas-plate,  and  children's  food  may  be  brought 
and  cooled  to  55°,  or  heated,  as  desired. 

"Children,  including  babies,  may  be  left  for  an  hour  or  so 
in  the  room  at  any  time, 

"Fresh,  home-made  bakery  goods  will  be  on  sale  all  the 
time;  bread,  pies  and  cakes  being  always  on  hand,  with 
special  pastry,  baked  beans,  etc.,  on  Saturdays. 

"An  employment  bureau  will  be  in  connection,  where 
applications  for  emplo)anent  will  be  received  from  both  men 
and  women,  and  applications  for  servants,  house-cleaners, 
and  men  to  work  outdoors  will  be,  so  far  as  possible,  filled. 

"A  table  will  be  supplied  with  reading  matter  and 
writing  material. 

"Committee  meetings,  especially  of  those  in  any  way 
interested  in  work  for  developing  the  town,  may  be  arranged 
in  the  room. 

"Information  on  any  subject  of  disease-prevention,  or 
other  sanitation,  may  be  obtained  by  application  at  the  room. 
Information  on  any  social  work  will  be  secured  upon  request, 
and  material  from  the  American  Civic  Association  will  be 
in  the  room  for  distribution,  or  on  the  bulletin-board. 

"The  room  will  be  open  all  day,  every  day  save  Simday. 
Those  waiting  between  trains  are  invited  to  wait  there. 
Everyone  who  comes  is  asked  to  register." 

In  the  first  month  in  which  the  room  was  opened,  sixty- 
two  visitors  were  registered;  and  in  the  second  month  more 
than  one  hundred;  in  both  cases  exclusive  of  townsfolk. 

By  one  of  the  curious  contretemps,  such  as  are  always 
occurring  in  these  days  when  these  forms  of  activity  are  still 
new  and  strange,  the  Town  Council  came  to  believe  that  the 
home-made  bakery  goods  offered  for  sale  were  baked  on  the 
one-burner  gas-plate,  by  the  city's  gas;  and  permission  to 
use  the  room  was  revoked  before  explanations  could  be  made. 
No  other  room  was  available  and  the  furniture  was  tempo- 
rarily stored;  but  the  need  for  such  a  place  had  been  abund- 
antly demonstrated.  The  demand  for  its  continuance  by 
those  who  enjoyed  its  privileges  makes  sure  the  development 
of  some  plan  by  which  the  rest-room  will  be  restored. 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  17 

CHARITY  CO-ORDINATION  COMMITTEE 

This  committee  grew  out  of  the  condition  common  to 
small  towns  of  the  overlapping  of  the  random,  individual 
charities.  The  attempt  to  make  a  Charity  Co-ordination 
Committee  a  part  of  a  civic  organization  was  new  to  the 
Association;  but  it  was  done,  when  it  had  been  found  that 
one  needy  family  in  the  town  had  received  five  Christmas 
chickens,  with  accompaniments,  from  five  independent 
sources. 

The  committee  organized  with  the  object,  first,  of  con- 
structive charity  work,  especially  of  securing  employment 
for  any  whom  it  could  aid  in  this  way;  second,  to  work  with 
the  Coimty  Hospital  and  the  Poor  Commissioner  in  placing 
any  who  needed  entire  custodial  care;  and,  third,  the  relief 
of  temporary  suffering.  A  committee  was  appointed  from 
each  ward  to  look  after  the  dependent  or  partly  dependent 
in  that  ward.  In  this  town  there  are  no  dependents,  and 
less  than  forty  families  partially  dependent. 

Christmas  and  Thanksgiving  baskets  are  distributed 
every  year,  with  gifts  of  toys  and  food,  and  of  mittens  and 
hosiery  from  a  local  factory.  These  are  delivered  free  by  the 
local  drayman. 

Delegates  from  the  committee  are  sent  each  year  from 
the  committee  to  the  State  Conference  on  Charities  and 
Corrections. 

PUBLIC  BUILDINGS   AND  RECREATIONS   COMMITTEE 

The  town  lecture-course  was  the  chief  charge  of  this 
committee;  and  it  made  successful  a  venture  which  is  not 
always  successful  in  towns  of  this  size,  but  which  is  most 
important  to  the  town. 

Three  lectures  and  two  concerts  were  arranged  for  each 
winter,  engaged  from  a  Chicago  bureau;  and  the  hope  was  to 
have  the  lectures  so  far  as  possible  stimulate  the  kind  of 
activity  for  which  the  Association  stood.  Judge  Lindsay, 
Maude  Ballington  Booth,  Bishop  Willett,  and  Governor 
Folk  were  among  those  whom  the  committee  brought,  tak- 
ing entire  charge  of  the  sale  of  the  tickets,  the  money  for 
which  passed  through  the  Association  treasury  and  any 
profits  from  which  were  returned  to  it.  The  committee  also 
devised  a  system  of  seating  which  was  designed  to  give 
every  ticket-holder  his  turn  at  the  most  desirable  and  the 


i8  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

least  desirable  seats  in  the  house  in  the  course  of  the  five 
entertainments. 

Public  bath-houses  were  another  achievement  of  the 
committee,  erected  of  pine,  with  cement  foundation,  on  the 
banks  of  a  little  lake  where  there  is  a  sandy  beach  and  where 
bathing  goes  on  all  summer.  Two  houses  were  constructed, 
with  several  partitions;  but  the  inability  of  the  town  to  give 
proper  police  protection  to  the  buildings  somewhat  nulMed 
their  usefulness,  although  they  filled  a  distinct  need  as 
dressing-rooms. 

In  this  connection,  a  most  interesting  sentence  may  be 
quoted  from  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  at  which  this  need  of 
policing  the  new  bath-houses  had  been  brought  up: 

It  was  moved  that  the  chairman  of  the  Recreation  Committee 
make  an  effort  to  discover  the  ring-leader  of  the  boys  who  are  com- 
mitting depredations  at  the  bath-houses  erected  by  the  Association 
and  interest  him  in  the  protection  of  the  building. 

A  petition  was  prepared  by  the  committee  asking  the 
Council  to  adopt  the  "Sane  Fourth"  ordinance  presented  to 
it  by  the  state  fire-warden  (and  obtainable  from  any  state 
fire-warden).  The  petition  was  signed  by  the  local  merchants 
who  handle  fireworks;  the  Council  passed  the  ordinance, 
and  a  sane  Fourth  followed.  It  had  been  the  intention  of 
the  committee  to  take  charge  of  a  Fourth  observance,  to  take 
the  place  of  the  old  celebration;  this,  it  was  hoped,  would  have 
the  form  of  a  pageant,  touching  back  to  the  early  French 
and  Indian  history  of  the  town;  but  this  has  not  yet  been 
brought  about.  Nor  has  justification  for  the  "pubUc  build- 
ings" part  of  the  committee's  name  been  yet  made.  This 
discussion  has  been  toward  a  mimicipal  auditorium,  to  be 
used  also  as  a  high-school  gymnasium. 

SANITATION    COMMITTEE 

Following  the  work  of  securing  the  tuberculin  test  of 
milk, — a  test  which,  the  next  year,  the  herdsmen  arranged 
for  themselves, — the  committee  agitated  the  matter  of  indi- 
vidual drinking-cups,  which,  however,  were  about  that  time 
taken  care  of  in  the  state  by  statute. 

The  sweeping  of  the  streets  at  night  before  they  were 
deserted  was  brought  up  by  the  committee,  and  the  Council 
was  asked  and  agreed  to  have  this  sweeping,  with  its  result- 
ing clouds  of  street  dust,  done  after  the  streets  were  emptied; 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  19 

this  being  sufficiently  early  in  the  evening  to  inconvenience 
nobody.  Ako  it  was  asked  that  the  streets  be  flushed,  and 
not  swept  dry. 

An  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  state  tuberculosis 
exhibit,  which  had  already  been  shown  once  in  the  City 
Hall;  but,  it  not  being  obtainable,  the  committee  cooperated 
in  bringing  the  open-air  motion-picture  health  exhibit 
already  mentioned.  Then,  with  the  assistance  of  the  com- 
mittee, a  local  branch  of  the  State  Anti-Tuberculosis  Associ- 
ation was  formed,  by  a  field-worker  from  the  Association  head- 
quarters in  the  nearest  city.  This  Association  assisted  in  the 
sale  of  the  Red  Cross  stamps,  already  inaugurated  by  a  local 
druggist;  and,  at  the  close  of  the  stamp  campaign,  this  branch 
of  the  Anti-Tuberculosis  Association  was  absorbed  by  the 
Sanitary  Committee,  which  then  became  the  Sanitary  and 
Anti-Tuberculosis  Committee. 

MEDICAL  AND  DENTAL  INSPECTION 

Medical  and  dental  inspection  of  the  school  children  was 
one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  of  the  committee. 
A  most  notable  fact  about  this  work  is  its  absurdly  small 
cost,  as  may  be  noted  imder  'The  Cost  of  It."  The  opera- 
tion of  getting  the  inspection  consisted  in  obtaining  the  per- 
mission of  the  School  Board  and  superintendent  and  principal 
to  begin  the  work;  and  in  securing  a  number  of  physicians 
and  dentists  and  ocuKsts  who  would  cooperate  in  the  inspec- 
tion, and  also  cooperate  in  case  any  child  was  unable  to 
afford  medical  attention;  and  in  the  purchase  of  the  necessary 
record  cards.  As  a  result,  every  child  in  the  schools  passes 
before  authorities  competent  to  diagnose  his  physical  con- 
dition. Whether  the  child  gets  the  necessary  attention  must 
of  necessity  be  left  largely  to  the  parents;  but  parental 
cooperation,  after  the  first  strangeness  wore  off  from  this 
new  branch  of  school  extension,  is  now  general.  The  in- 
spection covers  both  pubHc  and  parochial  schools. 

Dealers  who  exposed  food  on  the  sidewalks  were  visited 
by  the  committee,  and  later  the  State  Inspector  was  asked 
to  come  and  inspect  all  local  food-supply  places.  Glass-cov- 
ered boxes  were  purchased  for  one  sidewalk  display,  and 
though  it  is  true  that  the  covers  are  usually  left  up,  a  start 
at  least  has  been  made  toward  the  shutting  away  of  exposed 
food  from  flies  and  dust. 

The  other  work  of  the  Sanitation  Committee  was  the 
first  steps  toward  garbage  collection. 


20  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

GARBAGE  COLLECTION 

The  trial  system  of  garbage  collection  already  referred  to 
was  begun  by  the  committee,  with  no  idea  that  it  would 
serve  any  need  excepting  to  get  the  need  of  such  a  collection 
talked  about,  in  connection  with  the  inadequacy  of  the 
present  means.  The  twenty  replies  sent  from  the  towns 
in  the  state  which  had  been  questioned  about  their  systems 
contained  absolutely  no  suggestion,  for  there  was  no  middle 
ground  between  "no  system  at  all"  and  a  municipal  system 
of  collection  in  the  towns  of  twenty  and  thirty  thousand. 
Here,  as  everywhere,  the  task  was  to  get  the  need  recognized; 
and  the  campaign  had  to  begin  afar  down,  in  hardly  more 
than  suggestion. 

A  man  and  a  wagon  were  found,  and  the  man  agreed  to 
go  about  the  town  once  a  week  and  collect,  in  his  open 
wooden  wagon,  the  garbage  from  those  householders  whose 
names  were  furnished  to  him  by  the  committee.  For  each 
collection  he  received  ten  cents  from  the  householder,  and 
he  would  collect  oftener  if  it  was  desired. 

In  the  town  of  six  thousand,  thirty  were  found  who  wished 
to  be  so  served. 

The  next  year,  it  was  proposed  that  a  proper  receptacle 
for  garbage  collection  be  provided,  and  a  team  hired  to  cover 
one  ward — the  business  and  hotel  ward — twice  a  week. 
This  was  done,  and  there  was  purchased  a  galvanized  iron 
tank,  holding  fifteen  barrels,  and  having  no  bottom  opening, 
but  merely  one  at  the  end,  and  two,  with  covers,  in  the  top. 
The  street  commissioner  supplied  the  team  and  the  man,  at 
the  town's  prices  for  a  day's  teaming.  It  was  found  that 
the  man  could  cover  more  than  the  one  ward,  so  two  wards 
were  covered  by  him,  in  two  collections  each  week.  This 
was  done  for  the  two  months  of  greatest  heat — July  and 
August. 

The  following  year,  the  committee  had  the  service  con- 
tinued in  the  same  way,  in  the  business  district,  which 
belonged  to  everybody,  and  in  as  much  else  as  the  man 
had  time  to  cover  in  the  two  days  weekly.  Only,  this  time 
an  advance  was  made,  and  the  collection  was  maintained 
from  June  i  to  October  i,  doubling  the  period  of  service. 

Meanwhile,  the  care  of  the  collection  had  passed  from  the 
Sanitary  to  the  Streets  and  Alleys  Committee,  which  had 
become  responsible  for  raising  the  entire  amount  required. 
The  following  year,  a  special  committee  was  appointed, 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  21 

whose  sole  duty  was  to  be  to  take  charge  of  the  garbage 
collection. 

This  year,  on  the  initiative  of  the  city  health  officer, 
it  was  proposed  that  the  collection  be  maintained  for  four 
months,  with  two  collections  a  week,  covering  the  entire 
town,  the  Association  to  bear  one-half  of  the  expense  and  the 
town  the  other  half.  To  this  the  Association  and  the  special 
committee  gladly  agreed,  and  the  work  went  forward  on 
this  basis. 

An  ordinance  was  prepared  by  the  health  officer  and  passed 
by  the  commission,  the  town,  in  the  meantime,  having 
secured  commission  form  of  government,  requiring  every 
house  to  be  provided  with  a  suitable  receptacle,  made  of 
metal  and  having  a  cover,  to  be  placed  at  a  distance  of  not 
more  than  sixty  feet  from  the  street,  and  to  receive  the  gar- 
bage collection  service,  or  be  fined.  All  burying  and  dump- 
ing of  garbage  were  forbidden. 

The  town  then  purchased  a  large  number  of  galvanized 
iron  garbage-cans  of  var3dng  sizes,  and  these  were  placed 
on  sale,  at  cost  price,  at  the  Engine  House. 

This  is  the  stage  which  the  system  has  reached  at  present. 
The  purchase  of  another  tank,  the  hiring  of  another  team, 
and  the  service  for  at  least  five  months  a  year  are  yet  to  be 
attained. 

Disposal  of  the  garbage  is  made  by  carting  it  to  the 
slaughter-house  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  There  is  no 
reason  why  a  small  garbage-reduction  plant  should  not  be 
possible  to  a  small  town,  save  that  small  towns  have  not  yet 
dreamed  that  far.  The  time  will  come  when  the  present 
methods  of  disposing  of  garbage  will  be  unthinkable;  and 
the  clean,  wholesome,  economical  way  will  be  taken  for 
granted.  Meanwhile,  it  is  something  that  "the  little  dog  can 
stand  on  its  hind-legs  at  all." 

THE  COST  OF  IT 

And  how  much  does  this  work  of  the  Standing  Committees 
actually  cost,  in  money? 

The  equipment  of  the  school  dining-room  with  two  table- 
cloths, a  dozen  napkins,  a  mission-oak  table,  and  twelve 
mission-oak  chairs  cost  about  seventy  dollars,  the  dealers 
having  let  the  committee  have  the  articles  almost  at  cost. 

The  other  work  of  the  committee — the  house-fly  cam- 
paign, the  petition  for  manual  training  and  domestic  science 


22  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

in  the  public  schools,  and  the  censorship  of  the  nickel  theaters 
cost  nothing  but  the  effort. 

The  small  sums  for  prizes  for  essays  were  voted  from  the 
general  treasury,  and  so  were  the  traveling  expenses  of  the 
lecturers,  every  one  of  whom  came  for  his  expenses  and  for 
love  of  the  cause.  These  speakers  were  entertained  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Association  in  their  homes;  all  of  which  reminds 
one  of  the  days  of  the  early  Christians. 

The  planting  of  the  little  open  space  by  the  river  done  by 
the  Outdoor  Art  Committee  cost  $176.20.  Of  this  the  most 
was  netted  by  the  play,  and  some  of  the  rest  was  raised  by 
coffees  given  by  the  committee  in  the  afternoons  at  the 
homes  of  the  members.  The  fact  that  the  town  had  Mr. 
John  Nolen's  plan  was  due  to  the  fact  that,  being  in  the 
state,  he  gave  the  town  what  it  could  not  otherwise  have 
had — and  at  the  town's  nominal  acknowledgment;  and, 
incidentally,  to  his  visiting  the  little  park  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning;  because  that  was  the  only  hour  that  the  Council's 
streets  chairman,  a  storekeeper,  could  accompany  him. 
Moreover  the  committee's  ordering  of  shrubs  and  vines  for 
private  grounds  cost  nothing  but  the  work  itself. 

Five  thousand  penny  packages  of  seeds  cost  fifty  dollars, 
and,  at  a  penny  apiece,  are  paid  for  by  the  children;  so  these 
cost  nothing. 

Flowers  to  be  sent  by  the  Children's  Auxiliary  Committee 
to  the  city  settlements  are  brought  by  the  children  from  their 
gardens,  and  shipped  free  by  the  express  company;  so  this 
costs  nothing. 

The  Flower  Show  is  held  in  the  City  Hall;  and  the  rental 
of  that  is  free,  save  for  a  janitor's  fee. 

The  planting  of  school-grounds  with  shrubs,  the  offering 
of  prizes  for  the  best  entries,  and  the  purchase  of  bulbs  for 
each  little  competitor,  cost  something.  Last  year  the  expenses 
of  the  committee  were  these: 

Receipts 

Cash  left  from  preceding  year $9  90 

Net  proceeds  of  cofiFees 18  51 

Cash  from  children's  seed  orders 53  85 

Gross  proceeds  of  Flower  Show 16  82 

Total $99  08 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  23 

Total  receipts $99  08 

Expenses 
Seeds: 

Home     Gardening     Association,    4,628 

packets  @  $9.25  per  M $42  80 

12  ounces  aster  seed 6  68 

750  small  envelopes  for  same 40 

$49  88 

Prizes,  (46  in  all) : 

8  Pictures 5  80 

S  Books 3  07 

7  Baseballs,  bats,  gloves,  etc 3  65 

2  Spoons,  3  pins 3  75 

I  Pen,  2  pennants 2  35 

Cash  prizes 8  75 

104  Bulbs I  35 

Room  prize  of  picture 3  50 

$32  22 

Flower  Show: 

Materials  for  candy i  25 

Entry  cards 75 

Janitor's  fee i  25 
ce-cream 2  55 

$5  80 

Grand  Total $87  90 


Balance  remaining  for  next  year's  work $11  18 

Cost  of  planting  one  ward-school  ground  with  shrubs, 
paid  from  the  Association  treasury: 

146  shrubs,  19  varieties $17  89 

Express 9  30 

Labor  of  planting 5  75 

Black  dirt  and  fertilizer 4  50 

Total $37  44 

Having  shrubs  sent  by  freight  instead  of  by  express,  or 
from  a  nearby  nursery,  and  school-grounds  containing  good 
soil  instead  of  pure  sand,  would  materially  lessen  the  cost 
of  this  work. 

Clean-up  days  cost  absolutely  nothing. 

The  abatement  of  alleys  would  cost  nothing. 

Reporting  the  walks  which  are  covered  with  snow  or  ice 
costs  nothing. 

The  Streets  and  Alleys  Committee  had  no  expense  save 
that  connected  with  the  garbage  collection. 


24  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

The  rest-room  was  equipped  at  a  total  cost  of  $ioo,  plus 
its  gifts,  and  it  was  rent  free.  The  services  of  a  matron  were 
engaged  at  one  dollar  a  day.  This  work  might  be  done  by 
vohmteers  from  the  committee  or  from  the  rest  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, but  volunteer  work,  where  it  must  be  done  all  day 
long,  every  day,  is  somewhat  intense;  and  the  engaging  of  a 
matron  is  regarded  as  the  way  of  best  efficiency.  The  only 
other  expense  was  for  ice,  gas,  and  stationery.  The  Rest 
Room  Committee  conducted  a  rummage  sale,  which  netted 
$123.50,  and  realized  $5  from  the  sale  of  bakery  articles. 
The  rummage  sale,  which  is  not,  however,  to  be  recommended 
unless  the  garments  can  be  thoroughly  disinfected,  was  to 
have  been  followed  by  coffees  and  affairs  having  a  community 
social  value,  as  well  as  one  financial.  Bakery  goods  and 
magazines  were  donated. 

The  Charity  Co-ordination  Committee  is  of  necessity 
chiefly  a  distributive  agency.  Securing  employment  costs  it 
nothing,  and  the  most  of  its  gifts,  which  the  aim  is  to  mini- 
mize, simply  pass  through  its  hands  or  are  reported  to  it. 
Occasionally  small  bills  for  the  purchases  of  necessaries  are 
presented  to  the  society,  but  these  are,  in  the  year,  very 
small,  and  are  paid  from  the  general  treasury. 

The  Lecture-Course  has  cost  from  $600  to  $800 — and 
both  years  that  the  committee  has  handled  the  course  there 
has  been  no  deficit,  and  a  Uttle  money  has  been  made.  One 
or  two  of  the  lecturers  each  year  have  cost  $200,  the  others 
approximating  $100  and  $125;  but  these  and  the  hall  rental 
and  the  printing  have  still  left  a  profit  from  the  sale  of  seats. 

The  two  bath-houses  were  erected  at  a  cost  of  $110,  with 
the  lumber  obtained  at  cost  and  the  work  furnished  at  the 
lowest  figure  that  the  contractor  could  make  for  it. 

A  petition  for  a  sane  Fourth  can  never  involve  anybody 
in  expense. 

The  tuberculin  test  costs  nothing  but  the  correspondence 
necessary  in  getting  a  veterinary,  for  the  milkmen  pay  for 
the  test  themselves. 

The  flushing  of  the  streets  when  they  are  swept,  and  their 
sweeping  after  they  are  deserted,  cost  nothing. 

It  costs  nothing  to  have  a  state  inspector  come  to  the 
town,  and  order  dealers  not  to  expose  food  on  the  street  or  in 
the  shops. 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  25 

It  costs  nothing  but  the  express  one  way  to  get  a  state 
tuberculosis  exhibit.  It  costs  nothing  to  form  a  branch  of 
the  Anti-Tuberculosis  Association,  or  to  conduct  a  Red 
Cross  stamp  campaign. 

Providing  volimteer  work  will  be  done  by  the  physicians 
and  dentists,  which  almost  always  will  be  done  in  a  little 
town,  the  medical  inspection  of  school  children  costs  just  the 
fifteen  dollars  for  the  record  cards. 

The  first  step  in  garbage  collection  costs  nothing  but  the 
discovery  of  the  man  and  the  team  and  the  wooden  wagon, 
for  his  patrons  paid  him  themselves. 

The  galvanized-iron  garbage-tank,  holding  fifteen  barrels, 
cost  $30,  at  cost.  A  city  team  at  $5.50  a  day,  and  making 
two  collections  a  week,  cost  $11  a  week,  for  July  and  August. 

The  next  year  a  contract  was  made  at  $5  a  day,  the  man 
to  give  his  whole  time  for  the  two  days  of  his  weekly  col- 
lections. This  averaged  $125  a  month  and,  shared  with  the 
city,  made  the  monthly  expense  $67.50.  The  Association's 
share  was  assumed  by  the  committee,  all  save  $75,  which 
was  voted  from  the  general  treasury;  and  it  was  easily  raised 
by  the  committee  by  the  circulation  of  a  paper  to  all  those 
who  were  interested  in  seeing  a  system  of  garbage  collection 
permanently  established  in  the  town.  Amounts  were  received 
from  twenty-five  cents  to  ten  dollars. 

The  Tree  Culture  Committee  can  do  a  great  part  of  its 
work  without  expense. 

Taking  out,  transplanting,  and  proper  trimming  may  be 
done  just  as  cheaply  as  not  doing  the  first  two  and  as  doing 
the  trimming  badly — ^providing  the  property  owners  them- 
selves can  be  interested,  as  they  can  be. 

Instructing  the  town  tree-trimmer  to  trim  trees  in  the 
middle  and  not  more  than  can  be  avoided  on  the  outside, 
and  to  cut  out  dead  limbs,  and  not  so  often  to  cut  living 
ones — these  cost  nothing. 

Nor  does  it  cost  to  have  consultations  with  the  makers 
of  cement  walks;  to  whom  it  can  be  pointed  out  that  walks 
must  turn  out  for  trees,  and  never,  never  must  trees  come 
down  for  walks. 

And  the  Press  Committee  need  give  only  time.  In  fact, 
its  value  consists  in  the  amoimt  of  time  that  is  it  willing  to 
give.   For  in  its  hands  lies  the  disseminating  of  that  which 


26  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

is  of  value  chiefly  only  when  it  is  disseminated.  Full  accounts 
of  the  work  of  the  Association  are  printed  in  the  local  dailies 
and  county  weeklies,  with  its  reasons  and  some  discussion  of 
the  principles  involved.  Ordinances,  such  as  those  for  food- 
and  tree-protection,  care  of  alleys,  and  garbage  collection 
were  repeatedly  printed  in  full.  And  the  address  of  every 
speaker  whom  the  association  secured  was  given  a  resume 
of  a  column  or  two  on  the  following  day.  In  this  the  news- 
papers gladly  cooperated,  usually  asking  the  Association  to 
supply  the  copy,  and  sending  for  it  to  the  chairman  of  the 
committee.  Thus  the  material  was  made  to  reach  several 
thousand  homes  in  the  county;  and,  on  occasions  such  as 
that  of  an  interview  with  Mr.  Nolen  on  the  town's  possibil- 
ities and  those  of  some  of  the  addresses,  copies  were  struck 
off,  at  a  nominal  cost,  before  the  type  was  distributed,  and 
these  were  specially  mailed.  The  educational  value  of  the 
Association  may  be  many  times  multiplied  by  the  Press 
Committee. 

THE  HEART  OF   IT 

The  heart  of  it  is  the  revelation  of  the  real  solidarity  in 
any  town,  and  in  all  the  towns.  Community  consciousness 
can  be  developed,  just  as  most  other  consciousness  can  be 
developed,  but  not  without  effort.  Each  community  must 
realize  its  own  essential  social  fimction  as  builder  of  the  life 
of  the  state  and  of  the  race.  This  can  come  about  only  as 
commimity  members  recognize  themselves  as  constituting 
that  community — not  as  merely  living  in  it  and  on  it.  The 
means  to  this  end  is  service.  And  the  end  it  seeks — and  this 
is  really  the  beginning — ^is  not  "town  improvement,"  but 
fellowship  and  humanhood. 


THE  SOCIAL  CENTER 

"The  Heart  of  It"  is  why  the  Social  Center  is  the  logical 
center  of  the  civic  and  social  movements  in  a  town.  When 
these  matters  are  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  all  of  whom  they 
affect,  the  people  need  a  forum.  Meetings  on  stated  evenings, 
or  meetings  of  separate  clubs,  to  discuss  the  common  wel- 
fare, do  not  give  full  expression  to  the  people's  impulse  to 
thresh  out  details  and  get  new  information  and  exchange 
ideas.    The  place  where  this  can  be  best   accomplished 


CIVIC  IMPROVEMENT  27 

must  be  a  common  meeting-place  for  both  education  and 
recreation. 

The  problem  of  community  recreation  is  closely  allied 
to  the  need  of  a  community  center  for  discussion  of  common 
affairs.  The  perfectly  sane  and  wholesome  instinct  for  being 
together  is  admittedly  a  source  of  appalling  evil,  because 
that  being  together  is  an  undirected  and  undeveloped  expres- 
sion. Already  there  are  little  towns  which  are  engaging 
directors  of  recreation,  who  take  charge  of  the  community 
recreation  and  use  it  as  an  end  in  itself,  and  as  an  ejffective 
means  of  awakening  commimity  consciousness.  It  is  the 
business  of  this  director  to  awaken  and  develop  this  con- 
sciousness along  Unes  of  civic  and  social  interest  such  as 
those  worked  out  by  the  Association  already  described;  but 
instead  of  membership  in  an  Association,  more  or  less 
artificially  nourished,  the  membership  is  consciously  in 
the  natural  unit,  the  community.  The  double  solu- 
tion of  an  educational  and  recreational  center  means 
the  development  of  a  splendid  machine  for  social  and 
civic  uses. 

The  use  of  the  school-houses  as  these  centers  is  becoming 
firmly  established,  and  this  will  be  especially  true  of  the  new 
type  of  school-house  certainly  to  supersede  the  old:  School- 
houses  with  either  a  gymnasium  to  be  used  as  an  auditorium, 
with  a  stage;  or  an  assembly-room  with  movable  seats  where 
there  may  be  dancing,  basket-ball,  excellent  use  of  the 
drama,  motion-pictures,  band-practice,  debating,  and  pub- 
lic speaking.  The  school-house  is  the  natural  social  center, 
because  it  belongs  to  the  people,  is  supported  by  the  people's 
taxes,  and  is  now  in  use  only  about  six  hours  a  day — an 
insufficient  use  of  the  investment  of  any  money. 

In  Wisconsin  a  law  has  been  passed  giving  the  use  of|  the 
school-houses  of  the  state  to  the  people,  witiout  charge  for 
either  heat  or  light,  for  recreational  and  educational  uses 
under  proper  direction.  Wisconsin  University  has  a  depart- 
ment of  civic  and  social  development  in  its  extension 
division,  employing  an  expert  whose  sole  duty  it  is  to 
develop  social  centers  in  the  state.  The  National  Demo- 
cratic and  both  branches  of  the  National  Republican 
parties  have  made  public  endorsement  of  the  value  of 
this  community  development.  And  it  was  of  this  that 
Justice  Hughes  said:  *'You  are  buttressing  the  foundations 
of  democracy." 


28  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 

It  is  the  little  towns  and  the  villages  that  feed  the  great 
cities.  What  kind  of  citizens  go  to  the  cities  depends  in 
large  measure  on  the  kind  of  towns  and  villages  that  they 
have  left  behind. 

The  words  "civics"  and  "politics"  come  from  the  same 
root:  One  the  Latin  and  one  the  Greek  for  the  same  word: 
Citizen. 


Additional  copies  of  this  Bulletin  may  be  ob- 
tained at  the  price  of  25  cents  each,  or  in  quantities 
with  the  following  discount: 

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Please  send  orders,  with  remittance,  to  the 
American  Civic  Association,  914  Union  Trust  Build- 
ing, Washington,  D.  C. 


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